title: Optimizing EEMCO guidance for the assessment of dry skin (xerosis) for pharmacies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  People with dry skin (xerosis) are common in community pharmacies, but there is no consistent guidance for community pharmacists to evaluate and alleviate dry skin. Through evaluating any difference of the clinical scoring systems of EEMCO guidance between a dermatologist and pharmacists and the efficacy of moisturizers for the treatment of dry skin recommended by community pharmacists, we aim to validate a dry skin guidance through the help of community pharmacists. These results provide insight into how community pharmacists can help patients with dry skin.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical scoring systems of EEMCO guidance used in this study comprised analog scales, the overall dry skin score (ODS), and the specific symptom sum score (SRRC) system. All pictures of the dry skin scored by pharmacists were visually evaluated by a dermatologist. The efficacy of the moisturizers was determined by the difference of the scales on day 0 and on day 28.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, 387 patients with dry skin from 157 community pharmacies were evaluated by pharmacists. Visual scale with divisions, ODS and SRRC that were evaluated by pharmacists on day 0 and day 28 were moderately reliable by a dermatologist. All parameters of dry skin were significantly improved by the moisturizers which were recommended by community pharmacists on day 28.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual scale, ODS and SRRC can be generally measured to evaluate dry skin in community pharmacies with moderate degree of reliability. This finding has possible applications for investigating the assessment of the community pharmacists on clinical scoring system of dry skin and moisturizers.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Y E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003880:Dermatology / Q000592:standards*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000592:standards*; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D063465:Skin Cream / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D064232:Visual Analog Scale
keywords: EEMCO; dry skin; moisturizer; pharmacy; xerosis